It was the banging from the galley that made Steve stop and peek around the corner. There was usually noise from this room, of course, but not in the middle of the night. He certainly didn't expect to see what played out before him. Banner, standing in front of a counter spread with ingredients; flour, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and other unmarked containers. Bruce turned, spotting Steve, and smiled.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

"What are you doing?" Steve nodded towards the spread across the counter and Bruce followed his gaze.

"Baking. I took cooking classes a while back, it helps me relax. Chocolate cake."

So that was where all the sweets came from that appeared in the common areas now and then… "I'd expect you to be up in the lab."

"Cooking is just another kind of science, Cap. Care to help?" Steve opened his mouth, then closed it and shrugged, stepping up to the table beside Bruce.

"What do you need?"

"Sift two cups of flour into that bowl. I'll get the chocolate started." Banner measured out some ingredients into a pan, turning on the stove. Footsteps made both of them pause and turn. Clint stood in the doorway, a brow raised.

"We're making cake," Steve supplied, and waved the sifter, showering himself in a white powdery spray. He glanced down at himself with a chuckle. "Well… Banner's making a cake, and I'm making a mess."

"What the hell," Clint said, stepping into the room, fingers running through his hair as he took in the scene.

"Measure the cocoa into that pot and put it over the stove…" Banner handed over the canister and the measuring spoons.

Before long, Natasha appeared, asking for Clint, but before she could argue, Hawkeye had roped her into helping with his part. The smell of food had apparently summoned Thor, along with the noise of talking and laughing in the galley at such an hour, and he did his best to help which mostly made more of a mess than Steve had managed.

Tony was the last to appear in the doorway, and he refused to help, except to offer to lick utensils once they were done with them. The first of the staff in charge of cooking that day had begun to appear when they pulled the cake out of the oven, setting it on a rack to cool, the collective Avengers covered in various baking ingredients and looking tired, but they were all smiling when they finally made their way to their respective beds.